John Huff/Staff photographer
A Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the New Hampshire National Guard’s Air Medevac unit lands at Bellamy Field at Dover High School dusting students from Dover, Oyster River, Portsmouth and Somersworth NJROTC with snow Wednesday morning.

DOVER — An unusual sight befell Bellamy Field early Wednesday morning as students of the NJROTC were introduced to a Black Hawk helicopter that landed on the snow covered ground at 8 a.m.

“Incredible.” “Awesome.” “Amazing.”

Those were just some of the words used to describe the experience of not only seeing the helicopter up close personal, but being treated to a ride on the UH 60 Alpha model aircraft, an event arranged by Dover Assistant Fire Chief and Army National Guard member Jim Ormand.

Students from Dover High, Oyster River Cooperative High, Portsmouth Regional High and Somersworth High schools all took flight with the 238 Medivac unit based out of Concord, a unit scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in April.

“How many students can say they’ve gone to school in a helicopter?” DHS junior Sean Guile said after landing from his group’s flight.

“Everything was great til we started heading back toward the school,” DHS ROTC junior Jim Sinclair joked.

Riding with the students and going over safety procedures, were pilot in command Lorna Bryan, copilot Peter Cartmell, crew chief Ken Jones, and medic Tim Monahan.

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John Huff/Staff photographer
Students from Dover, Oyster River, Portsmouth and Somersworth NJROTC get a change to fly in one of the New Hampshire Air National Guard Medevac unit’s Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, which landed at Bellamy Field at Dover High School Wednesday morning.

Ormand, who said the memory of a helicopter landing at his elementary school in Derry is one that has remained in his mind ever since, said he wanted the students to have a fun, educational, and exciting experience as part of ROTC.

And, without question, they did. Flying high above the landscape of the Garrison City and points greater, excited and inspired exclamations were heard when the first of four rides took off and as each group of about 10 students departed single file from the chopper.

Juniors Felecia Bagley, Marissa Keighley, and senior Taylor Shaw said the trip was intense, and different from flying on a plane.

“It was very cool,” Bagley said.

Shaw noticed the kind of sharp turns the aircraft can take and said being able to experience the ride from the helicopter was just awesome.

The three girls said it’s definitely something they’d want to do again.

As he awaited his turn going up in the Black Hawk, Cadet Commanding Officer at DHS Shawn Dawley, in his fourth year of ROTC as a senior, said this was going to be the experience of a lifetime.

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John Huff/Staff photographer
A Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in service with the New Hampshire Air National Guard’s Medevac unit takes off from Bellamy Field at Dover High School Wednesday morning carrying area Junior ROTC students from Dover, Oyster River, Portsmouth and Somersworth High Schools.

“It’s definitely very exciting. It’s the first time we’ve gotten to do anything like this,” he said. “It’s going to be fun for sure.”

While the sight and experience was no doubt extreme fun for the 33 students who waited in cold temperatures, turning their backs toward the field whenever the Black Hawk took off or landed in the field with hurricane force winds created by its blades sending snow and ice flying through the air, it was also an important event for the National Guard soldiers.

Ormand said for the students, it was a great opportunity to see the types of jobs you can do in the military; for the soldiers, it provided a great training value for the medivac unit who needed to take time briefing people on loading into the helicopter and exiting the craft safely; and for the state, it was an ideal way to show partnerships made locally of some of the resources, capabilities and skills called upon and available here.

Cheers and shouts were heard as students attempted recording a piece of their own history as the helicopter took off for its first ride with students. Despite warnings, the snow and ice pelting their skin from the high winds created from the helicopter was a shock to the excited onlookers.

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John Huff/Staff photographer
Junior ROTC students Alex Hiltunen and Emily McCarten buckle into a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in service with the New Hampshire Air National Guard Medevac unit for a flight around the seacoast from Bellamy Field at Dover High School Wednesday morning.

For some, the opportunity wasn’t just amazing because of the fact a Black Hawk landed at school — a much different scene from the daily desks and chalkboards in classroom — it was their first ever flight, period.

Bryan Lytle, a freshman DHS ROTC student, said he had never flown before Wednesday morning. He was reportedly “freaking out” as the morning began, but that feeling subsided.

“It was just amazing. You get so scared before you go up but once you get up there it’s almost relaxing,” he said.

Freshman Brian Frye, who flew with Lytle, experienced flying for the first time as well in the Black Hawk.

He and Lytle said they saw Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth from the air, lots of water, and an airport, though they were unsure exactly which airport it might have been.

Last year, according to Mathieu Theoret, an ROTC student from Somersworth, students got to see a KC-135 plane. This was much different from that, he said, and a very “fun and good” experience.

Jack Settele, a junior at DHS, said Wednesday’s opportunity helped him to confirm what he wants to do in life: be a helicopter pilot.